salmon – Enviro Updates

Possible super El Niño could threaten North Bay fishing fleets

August 10, 2026

Anna Armstrong and Susanne Rust, PRESS DEMOCRAT

North Coast commercial fishermen have spent the past several years weathering one crisis after another: a three-year salmon shutdown, repeated delays to the Dungeness crab season and millions of dollars in lost revenue.

Now, a strengthening El Niño could prove to be the industry’s latest challenge.

Scientists say the climate pattern, including warming waters in the eastern Pacific, has the potential to shift where marine species are found and contribute to harmful algal blooms that could disrupt California fisheries. While forecasters say it is too early to know exactly how Northern California will be affected, local fishers say they have already observed unusual conditions on the water.

“Fishermen are scientists,” said commercial fisherman Dick Ogg. “We are always monitoring current, water temperature, color and where we see changes. We look for change and variation as fishermen and we go fish on the edges of this change.”

Ogg said he has already experienced “odd conditions this year.”

Climate Change & Energy, Sonoma Coastalgal blooms, crab season, Dungeness crab, El Niño, fisheries, marine heat wave, marine upwelling, salmon

Court rules Sonoma County must study impact of water wells on fish, Russian River

August 6, 2026

Bob Egelko, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Tuesday’s ruling said Sonoma County had not properly considered the effects of new rules it issued for increased pumping from the Russian River.

In a challenge by environmental groups to the pumping of groundwater from rivers to fill wells for farmers, homes and businesses in Sonoma County, a state appeals court says counties must consider the impact of their water wells on fish and the environment.

Tuesday’s ruling by the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Sonoma County had not properly considered the effects of new rules it issued in 2023 for increased pumping from the Russian River and other waterways, but might be able to meet legal standards with an environmental review.

On the central legal issue in the case, however, the court rejected the county’s argument that such reviews of water wells are required only for the state, and not for local governments.

“Sonoma’s regulation of well permits carries with it an ‘affirmative duty to take the public trust into account,’” Justice Tara Desautels wrote in the 3-0 ruling, quoting language from another appellate decision.

Water, WildlifeCalifornia Coastkeeper Alliance, endangered species, groundwater, Russian River, Russian Riverkeeper, salmon, well monitoring, well ordinance, wells

Trump administration ups ante in quest to thwart removal of PG&E’s Eel River dams

June 16, 2026

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet on Monday intensified her ongoing campaign to thwart PG&E’s plans to eventually tear down a pair of century-old Eel River dams.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in a social media post that she and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had met earlier in the day with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. CEO Patti Poppe, along with representatives from the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District “to begin constructive negotiations on the future of the Potter Valley Project.”

The administration’s “hope is clear,” she stated: to “keep the Scott and Cape Horn Dams in place and working for the communities they serve.”

That goal stands in direct opposition to PG&E’s long-held plan to decommission the century-old dams, part of Potter Valley hydroelectric project that no longer made financial sense, the utility concluded in 2019.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, Potter Valley Project, Russian River, salmon, salmon habitat

June 23 & 24: FERC scoping sessions for Eel River dam removal

June 13, 2026

Sierra Club Redwood Chapter

There has been an important step forward in Dam Removal on the Eel River, and your voice is needed now!

Two Public Scoping Sessions will take place at the Ukiah Conference Center on June 23 and 24th, and are an opportunity for the public to weigh in on the surrender and decommissioning of the Eel River Dams.

WHEN:
Tuesday, June 23 @ 6:30pm
Wednesday, June 24 @ 10am

WHERE:
Ukiah Valley Conference Center, Chenin Blanc Room
200 South School Street, Ukiah

What is FERC?
What’s a Scoping Hearing?
Do public comments make a difference?

Water, Wildlifedam removal, Eel River, endangered species, Potter Valley Project, salmon, salmon habitat

Marine heat wave and super El-Niño could threaten salmon recovery

June 10, 2026

ACTIVE NORCAL

California’s salmon fishery just reopened after three devastating years of closures. Now scientists are warning that a double threat of warming ocean water could put the recovery at risk before it takes hold.

KQED reported that a widespread marine heat wave, the seventh in seven years off the California coast, is already raising sea surface temperatures across the Pacific. If a potential super El Niño materializes later this year, as forecasters expect with 82% probability by July, the combined warming could disrupt ecosystems, harm marine life and threaten the juvenile salmon that are heading out to sea for the first time since populations began to recover.

The concern is specific and urgent. Young salmon that hatch in rivers like the Sacramento, Klamath and Eel spend their first months in the ocean, where they depend on cold, nutrient-rich upwelling water to find food and survive. When ocean temperatures rise, that food web breaks down. The prey species that juvenile salmon depend on shift northward or decline, and survival rates drop.

Climate Change & Energy, WildlifeEl Niño, fisheries, marine heat wave, salmon, salmon season

Trump administration doubles down on effort to stop California dam removal

June 1, 2026

Kurtis Alexander, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

The Trump administration has offered one of its most detailed explanations of why it wants to stop dam removal on Northern California’s Eel River, citing in a letter numerous concerns that include water, power, wildfire safety and even the state’s “radical leadership.” Still, big questions remain.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent the three-page letter Friday in response to a congressional inquiry about her agency’s sudden interest in a pair of relatively obscure PG&E-owned dams. The inquiry was opened in April by Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.

The dams, in Lake and Mendocino counties, are part of the Potter Valley hydroelectric project, which Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is seeking to retire because of its age and expense. Many support the project’s dismantling as a way to restore the Eel River — which would become the longest free-flowing river in California — and boost its struggling salmon runs. Last summer, however, Rollins unexpectedly took to social media to criticize the project’s retirement, suggesting the federal government might intervene to thwart it.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, Potter Valley Project, salmon, water diversion

Federal regulators signal support for PG&E’s bid to decommission Eel River dams

May 26, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The federal agency responsible for approving Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s bid to decommission two Eel River dams and a downstream hydroelectric powerplant has signaled its support for the utility’s plans, despite last-ditch efforts by those who oppose the teardown to keep the waterworks in Lake and Mendocino counties intact.

In a May 22 scoping document that provides an overview of proposed actions and potential resource issues, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission noted it “proposed to eliminate … alternatives” to full decommissioning, including a proposed takeover of the dams either by the federal government or other public agency.

Federal takeover of two PG&E dams and shuttered powerplant, known as the Potter Valley Project, would require congressional approval. FERC said “there is currently no evidence” showing that such a takeover should be recommended to Congress. Additionally, no federal agency has expressed interest in operating the project, FERC said.

Water, WildlifeEel River, endangered species, PG&E, Potter Valley Project, salmon, water diversion